First Known Use: 1658
Dictionary
didactic
adjective di·dac·tic \dī-ˈdak-tik, də-\
: designed or intended to teach people something
—used to describe someone or something that tries to teach something (such as proper or moral behavior) in a way that is annoying or unwanted
Full Definition of DIDACTIC
1
a : designed or intended to teach b : intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment <didactic poetry>
2
: making moral observations
— di·dac·ti·cal \-ti-kəl\ adjective
— di·dac·ti·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb
— di·dac·ti·cism \-tə-ˌsi-zəm\ noun
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Examples of DIDACTIC
- Slaves related human as well as animal trickster tales; they told Bible stories, explanatory tales, moralistic and didactic tales, supernatural tales and legends. —Lawrence W. Levine, The Unpredictable Past, 1993
- For two decades, many Americans, including some early advocates of the Vietnam intervention, have been relentlessly didactic, extracting cautionary lessons from Vietnam. —George F. Will, Newsweek, 22 May 1989
- —the trappings, one might say—of a didactic and resolutely pious Victorian sensibility in the service of an anarchic imagination. —Joyce Carol Oates, The Profane Art, 1983
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Origin of DIDACTIC
Greek didaktikos, from didaskein to teach
Related to DIDACTIC
- Synonyms
- sermonic, homiletic (or homiletical), moralistic, moralizing, preachy, sententious
Medical Dictionary
didactic
adjective di·dac·tic \dī-ˈdak-tik, də-\
Medical Definition of DIDACTIC
: involving lecture and textbook instruction rather than demonstration and laboratory study
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